Dysfunction of visual novelty detection in physical but not social anhedonia in a non-clinical sample

Ya Zheng; Zhao Wang; Bo Gao; Li Zhou; Qi Li

doi:10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100407

Dysfunction of visual novelty detection in physical but not social anhedonia in a non-clinical sample

Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2023 Oct-Dec;23(4):100407. doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100407. Epub 2023 Aug 31.

Authors

Ya Zheng¹, Zhao Wang², Bo Gao², Li Zhou², Qi Li³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Psychology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
³ Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Background/objective: Despite its obvious motivational impairment, anhedonia as a transdiagnostic psychopathological construct is accompanied by deficits in attention function. Previous studies have identified voluntary attention anomalies in anhedonia, but its involuntary attention has received less study.

Method: Using a visual novelty oddball task, the current event-related potential study assessed electrophysical correlates underlying mismatch detection in anhedonia with a non-clinical sample. Well-matched healthy control (N = 28; CNT), social anhedonia (N = 27; SA), and physical anhedonia (N = 26; PA) groups were presented standard, target, and perceptually novel stimuli while their EEG was recording.

Results: The PA group relative to the CNT group exhibited a reduced N2 to novel stimuli but not to target stimuli. In contrast, the SA group as compared to the other two groups showed comparable N2 responses to both target and novel stimuli. Control analyses indicated that these patterns were unaffected by depression symptoms.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that anhedonia is a heterogenous construct associated with impairments in early detection of visual novelty in physical but not social anhedonia, highlighting that dysfunction in involuntary attention may play a mediating role in the development, maintenance, and consequences of anhedonia-related psychopathology.

Keywords: Anterior N2; Novelty detection; Physical anhedonia; Social anhedonia.